..续本文上一页 our parents take the right medicine at the right times and in the right dosages (because sometimes sick people have to take more than one kind of medicine). This is one of the reasons we should carefully attend to our parents when they are sick.
病人或者头昏眼花，或者行动不便，或者饮食无法自主，甚或大小便都不能自理，在在都需要人照顾。尤其是心情的沮丧、烦躁或恐惧，更需要人的支持与安抚。照顾病人是很苦的事情，尤其你若有自己经济上的困难、家庭的责任、工作或功课上的压力，还要奔走医院，服侍一个心理也可能已不平衡的病人，那真会令人心力交疲。中国有句俗话说：“久病床前无孝子。”实在说起来，也不能苛责做子女的，不过孝子之所以是孝子，也正因为他“难行能行、难忍能忍”，和平常人不一样。
Sick people may be dizzy, or have trouble getting around, or be unable to feed themselves or to use the toilet; they need other people to help them in all aspects. When they are sad, afflicted, or afraid, they especially need others to support and console them. Taking care of sick people can be very hard, especially if one has financial difficulties, family responsibilities, or pressures from work or school. If one has to make many trips to the hospital to take care of a sick person who may not be in a normal state of mind, one may become physically and mentally exhausted. There. is a Chinese saying, "There are no filial children by the bedside of one who is chronically ill." Yet. one cannot really blame the children. A filial child merits the name "filial" because he or she is able to rise above the crowd, practicing what is difficult to practice, and enduring what is hard to endure.
所以这后两句文字，说不论白天夜晚都侍奉着，不离开父母的床边；虽然在今日的社会环境中，有些不可能，总以尽心尽力为孝。这个“尽”字，便是一种不自私、不自利，一种完全奉献的心态。做子女的，只要问自己是否尽心尽力了；至于其作法，是可以因人、因时、因地而制宜，不是一成不变的！
The second line of the verse says that we should wait on our sick parents day and night, without leaving their bedside. Although this may not always be possible in our modern society, we should still try our best to be filial. Our spirit should be one of "giving our all" without one bit of selfishness. As children, we should simply ask ourselves if we have done our best for our parents; the methods we use are not fixed, but can depend on the person, time, and situation.
汉文帝亲尝汤药，名列二十四孝，那是因为他以九五之尊，万机之忙，却不假手他人，昼夜亲侍候薄太后，殊是不易。我们可不要找藉口，说皇帝富甲天下，不须要劳累工作，当然他有空闲和精力去日夜照顾母亲啰，尝尝药又算什么！那么古今中外，有几个孝子是出在豪门的呀？
Emperor Wen of the Han dynasty personally tasted his mother”s medicine, and he became one of the Twenty-four Filial Paragons of China. Although he was the emperor and was occupied with the myriad affairs of riding the country, he personally waited upon his mother day and night. This is truly remarkable. We shouldn”t try to find an excuse, saying, "Well, the emperor was wealthy and didn”t have to work to make a living. Of course he had the time and energy to take care of his mother around the clock. What”s the big deal about tasting her medicine once in a while
" Yet take a look at history in China and other countries and see how many filial children have come from rich families.
所以“不论白天夜晚都侍奉着，不离开父母的床边”，这意思是指孝事父母的那个“心”；不要在那个“时间”上钻牛角尖，而误解了圣人所说的真义。
The line "Wait upon them day and night, without ever leaving their bedside" is talking about the spirit with which we should serve our parents. We shouldn”t become attached to the details of time and place and misunderstand the true intent of the sages.
读古书，要以心去领会得书中义理的精神，并行之于日用之间，才能上与古圣先贤游。断不能依文解字，以辞害义；否则我们所谓的文字，只不过是古人思想糟粕。若因此一味指责思想落伍，不能产生大用，而人云亦云，那是邪知邪见；若是拿糟粕当精华，囫囵吞枣、照单全收，那叫做屈死古人！
In studying the classics, we have to grasp the spirit of the principles and practice them in our daily lives. Then we will be able to roam with the sages and worthies of old. We should not interpret the classics so literally that the meaning is lost, or else we will only taste the dregs of the noble ideas of the ancients. If we insist on condemning all the classics as outdated, we will gain no benefit from them. We are simply repeating what we hear, which is based upon mistaken views. If we treat the dregs as the cream and jump to conclusions like this, we are not doing justice to the ancients.
《弟子规浅释 Standards for Students 第二章：孝 Chapter Two： FILIAL PIETY - 9》全文阅读结束。